Carriage-top attachment.



- No- 846,172. PATENTBD MAR. 5, 1907. W. 0. WILLITTS.

CARRIAGE TOP ATTACHMENT.

APP'LIOATION FILED mm: 1. 1906.

WITNESSES INVENTOH WILLIAM CHARLES WILUTTS I W A TTOHNEYS n: mamasPETERS co., wnsmnaro 0.

WILLIAM CHARLES WILLITTS, OF EGKFORD, MICHIGAN.

CARRIAGE-TOP ATTACHMENT- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 1,1906. Serial No. 319,721.

Batentea March 5, 1907.

To all w/wm, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM CHARLES WILLITTS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Eckford, in the county of Calhoun and State ofMichigan, have invented an Improvement in Carriage-Top Attachments, ofwhich the following is a specifica tion.

My invention is an improvement in the class of buggy or carriage topattachments which are removable from the carriage or buggy seat.

The object of my invention is to provide an attachment of this characterwhich may be more easily and quickly applied and detached thanheretofore and which will be held securely when so applied.

The details of construction, arrangement, and operation of parts are ashereinafter described, reference being had to accompanying drawing, inwhich Figure 1 is a perspective view of a buggy or carriage seatprovided with my improved attachment. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the seat,together with the brackets or anglebars, to which the attachment isapplied. Fig. 3 is an end view of the seat and attachment, the fasteningbeing unloosed.

In the drawing, A indicates the seat, which is provided with slopingsides and ends a, and B the shifting rail, to which in practice thebuggy or carriage top proper (not shown) is attached in the usual way.The rail B comprises the back portion 1 and the side portions or ends 2,which are at right angles to each other. The rail is supported upon andsecured to brackets or angle-arms C C and C C, the former being attachedto the back of the seat, and the latter to the ends thereof, andprojecting outwardly at their upper ends, which are provided with knobs3 3 3 as indicated in Fig. 2. The back portion 1 of the rail B isprovided at 4 with depressions or cup-like cavities in the upper side,and its end portions 2 are similarly provided with cavities 5 and 5 inthe under side for the purpose of receiving the knobs 3 3 3*. Afastening D is applied to the end portions 2 and is constructed andoperates as will be presently described. The shifting rail B isconstructed of steel or other spring metal, so that while having greatrigidity it has a due amount of elasticity. As shown in Fig. 1, theknobs 3 of the rear brackets or'arms C bear upon the upper side of theshifting railB, and, contrariwise, the side portions 2 of the rail bearupon the upper sides of the knobs 3 3 of the side arms (1.

In order to apply to the. seat the shifting rail, with the buggy orcarriage top secured thereto, the operator takes hold of the sideportions 2 of the rail between the cups 3 3 and elevates the front ofthe top and lowers the back 1 of the rail, so that the cups 4 may beadjusted under the knobs 3 of the rear brackets. Then the top is pushedforward and the cups 5 5 fall of necessityon the knobs 5 3 Thearrangement is such, however, that there is no firm or close contactbetween the parts 3 5 until a considerable pressure is applied to therail at the point 5" in a downward direction. The fastening device D nowcomes into action. It is to be understood that I purpose to employ anysuitable fastening for this purpose; but that which I prefer isconstructed as follows: A bar 6 is hinged to a lug on the under side ofthe arms 2 of the rail B and provided at its upper side with a socketadapted to receive the knob 3 of the front bracket. A bowed spring 7 issecured to the outer end of such bar and to an angular rocking lever 8,which is pivoted at its angle to a link 9, that is adapted to pass overand engage a catch 10, secured to the rail-arms 2 between the cups 5 5In Fig. 3 the fastening is shown loose or detached and hangs pendent. InFig. 1 it is shown applied as required to secure the rail B, the link orloop 9 being passed over the catch 10 and the lever 8 reversed or thrownbackward against the tension of the spring 7 It will be observed that inthe locking position, Fig. 1, the point of attachment of the link orloop 9 to the lever is in rear of the pivotal connection of the samewith the spring, which forms a sort of toggle-fastening that is notliable to become unloosed by use. It is apparent, however, that bypressing downward upon the free end of the lever 8 it may be thrownforward by reason of the elasticity of the spring 7, and thus allowrelease of the link 9 from the catch 10. The attachment or release ofthe fastening may thus be very quickly effected.

It will be seen that the shifting rail B is in fact a spring-lever andthat the cups 4 are held in firm contact with the knobs 3 of the rearbracket 0 by reason of the downward pressure or leverage applied to thefront ends of the side-bars 2, the knobs 3 thus constituting the fulcraof the lever. The rail is thus held firmly in connection with theseveral knobs or brackets of which they form a part, and all possibilityof looseness, rattling, or detachment is avoided, yet the rail may bedetached with great ease and rapidity upon the simple release of thefastening D.

In practice the several cups with which the shifting rail is providedwill be lined with leather or some other duly elastic and soft material.

, It is obvious that my invention is applicable as an attachment formany forms of vehicles.

I claim- 1. The combination, with a vehicleseat, and brackets or armsattached thereto, of a shifting spring-rail applied to said brackets forsupporting a buggy or carriage top, one portion of said rail underlyingcertain brackets, and other portions overlying other brackets, and means.for securing the over lying portion upon its supporting-brackets,substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a vehicle-seat, and brackets projectingtherefrom and pro vided with knobs, of a shifting spring-rail having inone portion sockets in the upper side for receiving the knobs of therear brackets, and arms provided in the under side with sockets forreceiving the side brackets, and a fastening applied to the side arms ofthe rail for securing it to the front brackets, substanthe same, a linkpivotally connected with said lever and adapted to engage a catch whensaid member is raised into engagement with one of the side brackets,substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a vehicle-seat having rear and side bracketsextending outward, a shifting spring-rail adapted to lie under the rearbrackets and over the side brackets, of a fastening device pivoted tothe rail and adapted to engage the under side of one of the sidebrackets and including a device for locking it detachably, whereby therail is secured upon the brackets, substantially as described.

WILLIAM CHARLES WILLITTS.

Witnesses:

B. L. GARDANIER, J. F. GAUss.

